The city is in talks with the owners of Alpine Hills Golf Course about possible new uses for the land, but no changes are coming soon to the east-side course.

The nine-hole golf course, 4402 Larson Ave., is southwest of East State Street and Alpine Road and the city’s “Miracle Mile,” an area along State from SwedishAmerican Hospital to Rockford College that’s being targeted for redevelopment.

The south branch of Keith Creek runs through the course. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is doing a study of the Keith Creek basin to determine how and if the chronic flooding on the waterway can be lessened.

City Administrator Jim Ryan said it’s too soon to tell if the city’s plan for Keith Creek would include Alpine Hills.

“It would be premature to say we’re going to purchase that for flood control,” he said. “We don’t have the study back telling us where the flood control measures should be.”

Ald. Frank Beach, R-10, has been involved in the city’s discussions with Alpine Hills.

“I’m excited about the possibilities out there,” he said, stressing that all discussions have been extremely preliminary.

The city has also been investigating building a road between Fairview Avenue and Alpine Road that would run south of and parallel to State. It would provide an alternative access to Alpine Road to alleviate congestion along State Street and at the State and Alpine intersection.

Money for preliminary engineering work was included in the 2008 Capital Improvement Plan; it’s unknown if the road would cut across the Alpine Hills property.

Patrick Zuroske, the city’s capital program manager, said some preliminary engineering work will be later this year.